Talk to Cassie

"You never told me what your name was," Cassie whispers.

"Alex," you reply.

She smiles sweetly and you instantly hate yourself for your earlier thoughts. Even Ritter resisted the temptation, and you'd like to think you're at least one evolutionary step above him.

"How have you survived this long?" You ask.

The smile turns to an expression of pain and you see with your first question you've already pushed the girl too far. She sits up and so do you, but just as quickly she regains her strength. After all, no complete weakling could have managed to make it this far.

"We moved around a lot," she finally answers. "We had a car for a while, but there were these guys..."

"Marauders," you suggest.

"Yeah, I guess. They had trucks and bikes. They chased us. We got away but we wrecked the car."

"Is that when Charlie was hurt?" You ask, your eyes flicking to her **** brother.

"No," she shakes her head. "We were hiding in an old school and some of the...the crazy people came. They attacked us, but Charlie had a gun. He killed a lot of them but to get out of the school we had to jump out of a window. The glass...it just went right into him and...I tried to stop the bleeding."

Tears fill her eyes and she covers her mouth to stifle a sob.

"Hey, hey," you sooth and slide over next to her.

You wrap your arm around her and she leans in against you, her tears warm as they fall on your skin.

"You did good," you say. "I was lucky. You had it rough."

"Are we gonna be safe?" She asks, her voice hitching with emotion in the middle of the question.

"I'm going to do everything I can for you and your brother," you reply. "We've got a safe place and a nurse who can take care of him. We'll get him fixed up and everything will be okay."

"A nurse?" Cassie looks up at you, tears in her eyes.

You stroke the back of her head and smile down at her.

"Yes," you say. "She is good at what she does. She'll get him sorted out and he'll be on his feet in no time."

Cassie hugs against you tightly, her young body pressed against your soft chest. Comforting her is making you feel strangely like a mom, though you are too young to be Cassie's. At the same time you can't deny the warmth between your legs, urging you to push things. To see if Cassie is willing to explore.